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Dalai Lama to Pelosi: "Nancy, We Must Rid You of Your Negative Energy."

Good luck with that.

The Dalai Lama spoke for several minutes, stressing the need for political powers to work collaboratively and positively. At one point, he urged reporters in the room to spend as much time and energy covering positive stories as they do exposing injustices.

“You have a very, very important role to educate people,” he said. Later, he added, “Sometimes the media people are only showing the negative side. Don’t do that.”

Pelosi noted her long relationship with the Dalai Lama, and recounted a story from one of her foreign trips...

But she recalled that after speaking that day, the Dalai Lama chimed in.

“He said, ‘Nancy, we must rid you of your negative energy,’ ” Pelosi said, which earned a smile and chuckle from Boehner.

The internal drama over who will take the top Democratic slot on the Energy and Commerce Committee next year has spilled into public view, with some lawmakers unhappy with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for taking sides so early — or at all.

Pelosi stunned colleagues on Thursday with a letter outlining support for her fellow Californian and close friend Anna G. Eshoo against Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey, and now some Democrats find themselves in a difficult position.

House Democrats put significant stock in years of service when doling out plum committee assignments, and the simple choice of picking the Energy and Commerce Committee’s current No. 3 — Pallone — now has been complicated by Pelosi’s endorsement of Eshoo, who is No. 5 in seniority.

Seniority is an especially sensitive issue for the Congressional Black and Hispanic caucuses, whose members believe that giving deference to tenure is the only way to protect minority members from slights, accidental or intentional, in getting promoted on Capitol Hill.

The CBC in particular is poised to benefit from respect for the seniority system: Its members currently hold ranking member slots on five of the 22 House committees, and that number could increase to seven in the 114th Congress. CBC members are inching ahead on a number of other panels, too, painting a viable picture of a day when they could wield unprecedented influence on just under half of all House committees.

Considering the "quality" of the CBC's politicians, that's a day that can't come soon enough. Soon clowns like Elijah Cummings and his tantrums won't be the exception, but the rule.